After last night’s NBA Draft Lottery, the Milwaukee Bucks knew they would have the top pick in the June 28 draft. Whether the player they select will be able to suit up is another question.

“I have no idea where we’re going,” commissioner David Stern said at a press conference last night at the NBA Entertainment Studios in Secaucus before Portland and the Bucks moved up in the lottery. Atlanta, the favorites for the No. 1 pick, fell to second. “We’re very anxious to try to make a deal.”

But that doesn’t mean the owners and Players Association are any closer or that Stern knows when the two sides will formally sit down again since talks broke off last week. The current collective bargaining agreement expires July 1.

“If we said there’s no ongoing talks, that’s not exactly accurate,” Stern said. “We’re continuing a dialogue and expect to set up a meeting.”

Other ominous signs that the NBA could soon follow the NHL into a lockout is that, according to Stern, the league lost a significant concessionaire contract for next year because “the NBA is looking unreliable right now.”

“[This could be] resolved in a showdown we don’t want, don’t need and will not be good for anyone involved with this sport,” Stern said, who added the union was within its right to “backtrack” from the talks. The current deal, he added, would not be there when the contract expires because of a loss of revenue.

The three key issues that are holding things up continue to be the length of maximum contracts, drug testing and the age limit.

Stern wants the league to guarantee contracts for only five years, as opposed to the current seven and continues to hope to raise the age limit from 18 to 20.

The commissioner also said that since the league has offered to keep the players’ share of revenue at 57 percent, that should no longer be an issue.

“We have proposed a framework that raises the [salary] cap and minimizes the level at which point the tax kicks in,” Stern said. “We’re going to pay the money, it’s just going to go the players who are most deserving.”

The idea of an age limit has also met with strong resistance from players.

“The perception of the NBA looking at high school players is not a good perception,” Stern said. “I’d like to get scouts out of high school gyms.”

Whether these differences result in the league’s first work stoppage in seven years remains to be seen.

“Of course I’m concerned,” Stern said of the NBA’s apparent following in the NHL’s footsteps. “We have our own experience in this.” (p. 72 Metro)